Could the diesel car soon be a thing of the past in modern Britain, as a UK scrappage scheme is rumoured?

With diesel cars not being discussed in the Spring Budget statement, many fear the diesels could face the chop in the form of a scrappage scheme announced in the Autumn Budget statement.

After Theresa May announced a snap election for early June, it’s unclear what is going to happen. For motor traders who specialise in vehicle sales, it might become harder for you to shift diesel powered cars in the future, in fact you might already be witnessing a shift in attitude from your customers.

London has already started to come down hard on diesel vehicles. Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, recently announced a new congestion charge for pre-Euro 4 engines, dubbed the T-charge, it will charge both diesel and petrol engines an extra £10 on top of the existing £11.50 congestion charge. Khan said: "The air in London is lethal and I will not stand by and do nothing. Today I’m announcing bold proposals which are critically needed to safeguard Londoners from our air quality health crisis.”

“I am introducing a new T-Charge this October and subject to consultation, I want to introduce the Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London in April 2019. This alone will mean the capital has the toughest emission standard of any world city.”

Cities and towns across the country could replicate this for diesel cars according to a consultation document published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. The document indicates that diesel vehicles that fall below the Euro 6 emissions standard and petrol vehicles that fall below the Euro 4 emissions standards will be hit with charges to enter urban centres.

According to an EU site, this would mean the diesels that could be affected, would be:

Motorcycles and mopeds currently only go up to a Euro 5 standard so it’s unclear if those would be affected.

Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Derby and Southampton would be the first cities to bring in charges in 2019, with Manchester and Bristol joining them in 2020. The document also suggests a scrappage scheme for 9,000 of the most polluting diesel vehicles, as well as 6,000 old petrol vehicles, in addition to a speed limit reduction to 60mph on stretches of badly-polluted motorways.

These proposals rely on a number of things to be carried out, including a Conservative government being re-elected. Other parties are yet to address the issue, but it would be safe to assume they might take a similar approach to tackling high polluting vehicles. We should know more once the manifestos for the 2017 General Election are released to the public.

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